Portable vacuum pump apparatus

ABSTRACT

The invention provides a portable vacuum pump apparatus that facilitates vacuuming to purge the air from a fluorocarbon refrigerant piping system of an air conditioner. A portable vacuum pump apparatus is used to purge the air from a fluorocarbon refrigerant piping system of an air conditioner by means of vacuuming. The portable vacuum pump apparatus includes a main body having a suction port portion and an exhaust port portion. The main body is provided with a rotating body that is rotatably disposed. An electric screwdriver receiving portion adapted to permit an electric screwdriver to be inserted therein is formed in an axial end of a rotor shaft of the rotating body, i.e. an end projecting outward from the main body.

INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE

The present application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 to Japanese Patent Application No. 2005-367422 filed on Dec. 21, 2005. The content of the application is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a portable vacuum pump apparatus to be used to purge the air from a fluorocarbon refrigerant piping system of an air conditioner by means of vacuuming.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 4-28919 discloses an example of conventional vacuum pump apparatuses. The vacuum pump apparatus disclosed therein is a vane-type vacuum pump comprising a main body, a rotor shaft, a rotor provided as an integral body with the rotor shaft, and a plurality of vanes. The main body has a suction port portion and an exhaust port portion, as well as a cylindrical rotor chamber. The rotor shaft is rotatably supported by the main body with bearings disposed between the rotor shaft and the main body. The rotor has slide grooves and is adapted to eccentrically rotate in the rotor chamber of the main body. The vanes are capable of sliding along the slide grooves of the rotor. When the pump is used, a motor or other means dedicated to driving the pump is connected to an end of the rotor shaft.

When installing an air conditioner for use in a residence or business, it is a common practice to purge the air from a fluorocarbon refrigerant piping system, which connects the indoor unit and the outdoor unit, by means of vacuuming. This vacuuming is conventionally done by using a large electric vacuum pump apparatus, such as a vane-type vacuum pump described above, that necessitates a dedicated driving means or a manual vacuum pump that requires the installation technician of the air conditioner to manually rotate the rotor.

However, conventional vacuuming using a large electric vacuum pump apparatus or a manual vacuum pump, such as those described above, is inconvenient and takes considerable effort.

In order to solve the above problems, an object of the invention is to provide a portable vacuum pump apparatus that makes use of an electric screwdriver to facilitate vacuuming to purge the air from a fluorocarbon refrigerant piping system of an air conditioner.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a portable vacuum pump apparatus to be used to purge the air from a fluorocarbon refrigerant piping system of an air conditioner by means of vacuuming. The portable vacuum pump apparatus includes a main body and a rotating body rotatably supported by the main body. The main body has a suction port portion and an exhaust port portion. The rotating body has an electric screwdriver receiving portion that is adapted to permit an electric screwdriver to be inserted therein.

According to another feature of the invention, the rotating body has a rotary shaft rotatably supported by the main body, and the aforementioned electric screwdriver receiving portion is formed in an axial end of the rotary shaft, the aforementioned axial end projecting from the main body.

According to yet another feature of the invention, the electric screwdriver receiving portion is formed in the shape of a recess in the aforementioned axial end of the rotary shaft, which projects from the main body.

According to yet another feature of the invention, the rotating body is a pump means adapted to be rotated by rotational force applied by an electric screwdriver and thereby compress air introduced from the suction port portion.

According to yet another feature of the invention, the electric screwdriver receiving portion is formed in such a shape that accommodates a screwdriver bit portion of a portable electric screwdriver.

According to the present invention, the rotating body can be rotated simply by inserting an electric screwdriver into the electric screwdriver receiving portion of the rotating body and activating the electric screwdriver. With the configuration described above, the present invention enables the installation technician to purge the air from the fluorocarbon refrigerant piping system of an air conditioner by means of vacuuming by using an electric screwdriver normally kept on hand. Moreover, the portable vacuum pump apparatus according to the invention is easy to carry, because not only the electric screwdriver but also the portable vacuum pump apparatus itself is portable.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a portable vacuum pump apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the portable vacuum pump apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a front view of the portable vacuum pump apparatus.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

A portable vacuum pump apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is explained hereunder, referring to the attached drawings.

In FIGS. 1 through 3, numeral 1 denotes a portable vacuum pump apparatus. The portable vacuum pump apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment is a small, portable vane pump unit that may be used, for example, by an installation technician to purge the air from a fluorocarbon refrigerant piping system of an air conditioner used in a residence or business by means of vacuuming.

The portable vacuum pump apparatus 1 has a main body 2 with a box-like outer shape. A cylindrical rotor chamber 3 is formed in the main body 2. A suction port portion 4 and an exhaust port portion 5 that communicate with the rotor chamber 3 are formed in the main body 2. A suction valve 6, a valve seat 7 for receiving the suction valve 6, a spring 8, and a strainer 9 are disposed in the suction port portion 4. The spring 8 serves to constantly push the suction valve 6 towards the valve seat 7. The main body 2 is primarily comprised of a casing body 11 and two casing covers 13, which are airtightly fixed to the casing body 11 by means of fixtures or the like with an O-ring 12 sandwiched between each casing cover 13 and the casing body 11.

The main body 2 is provided with a rotating body 21, which is rotatably disposed. The rotating body 21 serves as a pump means that is adapted to be rotated in a given direction by rotational force of an electric screwdriver 20 and thereby compress the air introduced from the suction port portion 4.

The rotating body 21 has a rotor shaft 23 otherwise referred to as a rotary shaft. The rotor shaft 23 is so disposed as to pass through the rotor chamber 3 and be rotatably supported by the main body 2. One of the axial ends of the rotor shaft 23 projects outward from the main body 2. A recessed electric screwdriver receiving portion 24 into which a small portable electric screwdriver 20 can be inserted is formed in the aforementioned projecting end (in the case of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the end project from the front side of the main body 2) of the rotor shaft 23. The electric screwdriver receiving portion 24 has a shape that permits a screwdriver bit portion 20 a of the electric screwdriver 20 to fit therein. In the case of the present embodiment, the electric screwdriver receiving portion 24 is formed in the shape of a hole that extends in the axial direction of the rotor shaft 23 and has a hexagonal cross section.

A rotor 25 that is adapted to eccentrically rotate in the rotor chamber 3 is formed integrally with the rotor shaft 23, around the cylindrical outer surface of the part of the rotor shaft 23 that is positioned inside the rotor chamber 3. A plurality of slide grooves 26 (two slide grooves 26 in the case of the present embodiment) extending in radial directions of the rotor 25 are formed in the rotor 25. A vane 27 in the shape of a rectangular plate is slidably fitted in each slide groove 26. A spring 28 serving as a force applying means is disposed between the two vanes 27 so that the force applied by the spring 28 constantly pushes the outer edge of each vane 27 against the inner surface of the casing body 11 of the main body 2, i.e. the surface that defines the rotor chamber 3. The rotating body 21 is primarily comprised of the rotor shaft 23, the rotor 25, the vanes 27, and the spring 28.

Next, functions and other details of the portable vacuum pump apparatus 1 described above are explained hereunder.

When installing an air conditioner for use in a residence or business, it is necessary to remove the air by vacuuming from the fluorocarbon refrigerant piping system connecting the indoor unit and the outdoor unit before filling the fluorocarbon refrigerant piping system with fluorocarbon refrigerant gas.

When performing vacuuming by using a portable vacuum pump apparatus 1, which does not have a dedicated driving source, the fluorocarbon refrigerant piping system is connected to the suction port portion 4 of the main body 2, after which the screwdriver bit portion 20 a of the electric screwdriver 20 is inserted into the electric screwdriver receiving portion 24 of the rotor shaft 23 of the rotating body 21 so as to fit the screwdriver bit portion 20 a into the electric screwdriver receiving portion 24.

When an operating element 20 b of the electric screwdriver 20 is operated to switch on the electric screwdriver 20 in this state, the screwdriver bit portion 20 a of the electric screwdriver 20 rotates. As its rotational force is transmitted from the screwdriver bit portion 20 a to the rotor shaft 23, the rotor 25, together with the vanes 27, rotates in the rotor chamber 3.

When the rotor 25 rotates with the vanes 27 in the rotor chamber 3, the air introduced from the suction port portion 4 into the rotor chamber 3 is compressed to a desired pressure and subsequently discharged from the exhaust port portion 5.

As described above, the rotor 25 of the rotating body 21 of the portable vacuum pump apparatus 1 according to the present invention can be rotated inside the rotor chamber 3 simply by inserting the electric screwdriver 20 into the electric screwdriver receiving portion 24 of the rotor shaft 23 of the rotating body 21 and activating the electric screwdriver 20. Therefore, the portable vacuum pump apparatus 1 according to the present invention enables the installation technician to purge the air from the fluorocarbon refrigerant piping system of the air conditioner by means of vacuuming easily and efficiently by using an electric screwdriver normally kept on hand.

Not only the electric screwdriver 20 but also the portable vacuum pump apparatus 1 itself is portable. Moreover, as the portable vacuum pump apparatus 1 according to the invention is more compact than a conventional product (for example, approximately one-tenth of a conventional vacuum pump), it can be easily carried around without taking up much space.

The invention has been explained referring to the above embodiment, which includes a suction valve 6. However, the invention is also applicable to a configuration that does not include any suction valve 6, although such a configuration is not shown in the attached drawings.

Furthermore, the scope of application of the invention is not limited to vane pumps using plate-shaped vanes 27; the invention is also applicable to other types of pumps, including but not limited to gear pumps. 

1. A portable vacuum pump apparatus to be used to purge air from a fluorocarbon refrigerant piping system of an air conditioner by means of vacuuming, comprising: a main body having a suction port portion and an exhaust port portion; and a rotating body that is rotatably supported by said main body and has an electric screwdriver receiving portion adapted to permit an electric screwdriver to be inserted therein.
 2. A portable vacuum pump apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein: said rotating body has a rotary shaft rotatably supported by said main body; and said electric screwdriver receiving portion is formed in an axial end of said rotary shaft, said axial end projecting from said main body.
 3. A portable vacuum pump apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein: said electric screwdriver receiving portion is formed in the shape of a recess in said axial end of said rotary shaft, which projects from said main body.
 4. A portable vacuum pump apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein: said rotating body is a pump means adapted to be rotated by rotational force applied by an electric screwdriver and thereby compress air introduced from said suction port portion.
 5. A portable vacuum pump apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein: said electric screwdriver receiving portion is formed in such a shape that accommodates a screwdriver bit portion of a portable electric screwdriver. 